A Date Gone Wrong
by Symphonic Fantasia
Summary: They always wound up at the lake. Every time, he always fished. It was ridiculous.


**Author's Notes: Yes, I'm still writing about other pairings. This time, we got JoexKatie. Awww yeah~.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, blah blah, you know the drill. I got the prompt from the otpprompts tumblr. That will be where I get a lot of my otp prompt from now on.  
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"The lake is beautiful today! Isn't it, Katie?"

The girl in question rolled her eyes. "I guess."

"Something wrong?"

Of course something was wrong. She was completely bored! Joe had told her that they were going on a date today. Dates were always rare for them. While she was busy with the café, he was busy at the carpentry shop. There were just too many things they had to get done. Whenever spare time became available, they went on dates. They either walked around the valley or sat at the lake.

Unfortunately, today their date led them to the lake. Naturally, just like every time they were at the lake, Joe had to fish. After a while, she just stopped arguing with him about it. So, their date ended up Joe fishing and Katie watching him. It was rarely interesting. Today was no different than usual. There was nothing for her to do but sit quietly so she didn't scare away any of the fish. Katie wasn't one to stay silent. She loved to talk.

"No. I'm fine, Joe," she finally answered, unable to keep her tone from sounding harsh.

Joe winced at her answer. He knew that this couldn't be fun for her. He scolded himself for fishing when they were on a date. Although, even yelling at himself didn't stop him from doing it again. When would he ever learn?

An idea sprung on him then. "Hey, would you like to learn how fish?" The look that Katie gave him sent chills down his spine and it wasn't in a good way. "Come on. I'm sure you'll like it."

"No. I don't want to."

Joe let out a sigh and moved his gaze to the water. "You know... I learned to bake with you so that I could make you happy. ... The least you can do is learn how to fish."

Katie flinched as he finished his sentence. She was sure that he didn't mean for this to hurt, but it did. Joe learned how to bake for her patiently and didn't complain. Whenever she looked at him, he looked like he was having fun. She was happy to see that. More importantly, he was happy being with her.

If only she could do the same for him.

She had to. Even if it meant doing the one thing she swore she would never do.

"Fine. Teach me how."

Joe smiled from ear to ear. Seeing it made Katie feel glad that she decided to learn for him. He scooted closer to her and held the fishing rod out to her. "Ok, so, grip on to it tightly. I wouldn't want you falling in." When Katie gripped it, he squeezed her hand and took it away. "It's real easy. All you have to do is rear the rod back."

Katie followed his instruction, the fishing rod over her shoulder more than it needed to. "Like this?"

"Yeah! That's it! Now fling it forward!"

She rolled her eyes. It was such a silly idea to do. Still, she did it, but in doing so...

she flung herself in the water as well.

"Katie!"

She was never the best swimmer. Even when Louis took them somewhere they could swim, she never went. She wasn't scared of the water, but she was afraid of drowning. With this fear, she never learned how to swim or to even float. Now her fears were coming true.

She was afraid. There were so many things floating through her head and each one of them scared her. She wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Then, she felt cold. She felt cold all over and it hurt.

And then... it got worse.

Fear gripped her in its tightening grip and made her panic even more than she already was.

She thrashed and moved around, desperate to swim up to the surface. But she didn't know where that was, though. All she felt was nothing but the water. Katie's lungs burned next. It ached and it was desperate to come out, but she held on. Even as she felt herself suspended in the water, she thought of her family and friends. Would she ever see them again? Would they mourn her? Oh, she hoped they did.

Katie was so lost in her muddled thoughts of memories and fear that she didn't feel someone grab and pull her.

Joe hovered over her, his face panic-stricken. He was soaking wet from jumping in the water but it hardly phased him. Beneath him, Katie lay motionless and stared up at him with half-lidded eyes. What was he suppose to do to someone who wasn't breathing? His mind was a blank.

The moment he realized it, he started performing CPR, forcing air into her body from his mouth when he needed to. It took only three more tries before Katie coughed and threw up the water from her stomach. "Oh Goddess, Katie. You're okay!" he cried out, moving away from her.

Katie continued to cough and took deep breaths when she could. She wrapped her arms around herself and curled up into a ball. "W-what happened...?"

"Y-you fell into the water when you tried to fish and you were drowning," Joe explained, giving her as much space as she needed. "I didn't think I could save you in time..."

It was starting to come back to her now. That was what happened, wasn't it? Katie wasn't sure how to feel. She wasn't sure if she were angry at Joe for trying to get her to fish or grateful that he saved her. Although she knew she could be mad, and she was, that wasn't the time for it. He saved her and for now she would be grateful. A sob racked her body. "Thank you..."

Smiling, he reached forward and rubbed her back. "Don't worry about thanking me. I'm just glad that you're alright." Frowning, he pulled his hand away. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you..."

He muttered that part, but Katie heard it perfectly clear. She turned to look at him, finding that he wasn't looking at her. "Really?" He nodded after a few moments of silence. Smiling, she sat up. "Well, you should have wondered more about my grandfather than yourself, you know."

"Sorry."

"It's ok." Laughing, she moved closer to him so that she could look up at his face. "But you know, we shouldn't tell him or Woody. They'll probably never let you take me anywhere again." There was no possibility of such a thing. However, they both knew that they would have a careful eye watched upon them and Joe would be punished by Woody if he heard of this.

Joe frowned, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Yeah, let's not do that..."

"So, to make it up to me, you'll make me a cake!" Joe gave her an incredulous look but she simply laughed at it. "What? After what happened, am I not worth a cake?"

"It's not that-"

"Then you'll make me one!" She stood up and started to wring out parts of her dress.

"Katie, are you sure you're ok to stand?" he asked, standing up as well.

To be honest, she felt a little weak. She wasn't entirely sure if standing or moving at this time was a good idea. Luckily, she wasn't too far from home. "I'm ok. Come on. Let's go." Katie wrapped her arms around his and started pulling him along. "You'll make the best cake for me ever!"


End file.
